Polari

Polari
Palare, Parlary, Palarie, Palari
Region	United Kingdom and Ireland
Native speakers	None
Language family	English-based cant
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pld
Glottolog	pola1249

Polari (or alternatively Parlare, Parlary, Palare, Palarie, Palari; from Italian parlare, "to talk") is a form of cant slang used in Britain by actors, circus and fairground showmen, merchant navy sailors, criminals, prostitutes, and the gay subculture. There is some debate about its origins, but it can be traced back to at least the nineteenth century and possibly the sixteenth century. There is a long-standing connection with Punch and Judy street puppet performers who traditionally used Polari to converse.

Description

Polari is a mixture of Romance (Italian or Mediterranean Lingua Franca), Romani, London slang, backslang, rhyming slang, sailor slang, and thieves' cant. Later it expanded to contain words from the Yiddish language and from 1960s drug users. It was a constantly developing form of language, with a small core lexicon of about 20 words (including bona (good ), ajax (nearby), eek (face), cod (naff, vile), naff (bad, drab), lattie (room, house, flat), nanti (not, no), omi (man), palone (woman), riah (hair), zhoosh (tjuz) (smarten up, stylize), TBH (To Be Had, sexually accessible), trade (sex), vada (see)), and over 500 other lesser-known words. According to a Channel 4 television documentary, there was once (in London) an "East End" version which stressed Cockney rhyming slang and a "West End" version which stressed theatrical and Classical influences. There was some interchange between the two.

Usage

Polari was used in London fishmarkets, the theatre, fairgrounds and circuses, hence the many borrowings from Romani. As many homosexual men worked in theatrical entertainment it was also used among the gay subculture, at a time when homosexual activity was illegal, to disguise homosexuals from hostile outsiders and undercover policemen. It was also used extensively in the British Merchant Navy, where many gay men joined ocean liners and cruise ships as waiters, stewards and entertainers. On one hand, it would be used as a means of cover to allow gay subjects to be discussed aloud without being understood; on the other hand, it was also used by some, particularly the most visibly camp and effeminate, as a further way of asserting their identity.

The almost identical Parlyaree has been spoken in fairgrounds since at least the seventeenth century and continues to be used by show travellers in England and Scotland. As theatrical booths, circus acts and menageries were once a common part of European fairs it is likely that the roots of Polari/Parlyaree lie in the period before both theatre and circus became independent of the fairgrounds. The Parlyaree spoken on fairgrounds tends to borrow much more from Romany, as well as other languages and argots spoken by travelling people, such as cant and backslang.

Henry Mayhew gave a verbatim account of Polari as part of an interview with a Punch and Judy showman in the 1850s. The discussion he recorded references the arrival of Punch in England, crediting these early shows to a performer from Italy called Porcini (see also John Payne Collier's account of Porsini—Payne Collier calls him Porchini—in Punch and Judy). Mayhew provides the following:

Punch Talk

"'Bona Parle' means language; name of patter. 'Yeute munjare' – no food. 'Yeute lente' – no bed. 'Yeute bivare' – no drink. I've 'yeute munjare,' and 'yeute bivare,' and, what's worse, 'yeute lente.' This is better than the costers' talk, because that ain't no slang and all, and this is a broken Italian, and much higher than the costers' lingo. We know what o'clock it is, besides."

There are additional accounts of particular words that relate to puppet performance: "'Slumarys' – figures, frame, scenes, properties. 'Slum' – call, or unknown tongue" ("unknown" is a reference to the "swazzle", a voice modifier used by Punch performers, the structure of which was a longstanding trade secret).

There are many sources of polari lexicons or "dictionaries" online, most of which are random collections with little or no research, rather than a descriptive list of terms in use.

Decline in use

Polari had begun to fall into disuse amongst the gay subculture by the late 1960s. The popularity of the Julian and Sandy characters played by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams ensured that some of this secret language became public property, and the gay liberationists of the 1970s viewed it as rather degrading and divisive as it was often used to gossip about, or criticise, others, as well as to discuss sexual exploits. In addition, the need for a secret subculture code declined with the legalisation of adult homosexual acts in England and Wales in 1967.

In popular culture

Polari was popularised in the 1960s on the popular BBC radio show Round the Horne starring Kenneth Horne. Camp Polari-speaking characters Julian and Sandy were played by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams.

In the first series of British comedians' panel television series Jokers Wild (1969), comedian Ray Martine is asked to explain the term palone (woman), which he used while telling a joke. In response to the definition, programme presenter Barry Cryer refers to Martine as a bona omi (good man).

Jason King star Peter Wyngarde recorded a self-titled album in 1970 which contained the song "Hippie and the Skinhead" about Billy the "queer sexy hippie" "trolling the Dilly".

In the long running BBC Programme Doctor Who, in the episode "Carnival of Monsters", Vorg, a showman, believing The Doctor to be one himself, attempts to converse with him in Polari. The Doctor states that he doesn't understand him.

In 2015, filmmakers Brian Fairbairn and Karl Eccleston made a short film entirely in Polari, entitled "Putting on the Dish".

Use today

File:Bona Togs shop Jersey.jpg

Bona Togs clothes shop

Since the mid-1990s, with the redistribution of cassettes and CDs of Round The Horne, and with increasing academic interest, Polari has undergone something of a revival. New words are being invented and updated to refer to more recent cultural concepts.

In 1990, Morrissey titled an album Bona Drag – Polari for "nice outfit" – and the single "Piccadilly Palare".

Also in 1990, comic book writer Grant Morrison created the Polari-speaking character Danny the Street (based on Danny La Rue), a sentient transvestite street, for the comic Doom Patrol.

The 1998 film Velvet Goldmine, which chronicles a fictional retelling of the rise and fall of glam rock, contains a flashback to 1970 in which a group of characters converse in Polari, while their words are subtitled.

In 2002, two books on Polari were published, Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men, and Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang (both by Paul Baker). Also in 2002, hip hop artist Juha released an album called Polari, with the chorus of the title song written entirely in the slang.

Characters in Will Self's story Foie Humain, the first part of Liver, use Polari.

Comedians Paul O'Grady, Julian Clary, David Walliams, and Matt Lucas incorporate Polari in their comedy routines, as did Rik Mayall.

In 2012, artists Jez Dolan and Joseph Richardson created an iPhone app which makes available the Polari lexicon and comprehensive list of etymologies.

The short film How gay men used to speak - A short film in Polari on YouTube features a conversation between two men, "Maureen" and "Roberta", in Polari.

Entry into standard English

A number of words from Polari have entered mainstream slang.

The Polari word naff, meaning inferior or tacky, has an uncertain etymology. Michael Quinion states that it is probably from the sixteenth-century Italian word gnaffa, meaning "a despicable person". There are a number of folk etymologies, many based on acronyms—Not Available For Fucking, Normal As Fuck—though these are backronyms. More likely etymologies include northern UK dialect naffhead, naffin, or naffy, a simpleton or blockhead; niffy-naffy, inconsequential, stupid, or Scots nyaff, a term of contempt for any unpleasant or objectionable person. An alternative etymology may lie in the Romany naflo, itself rooted in násfalo, meaning ill. The phrase "naff off" was used euphemistically in place of "fuck off" along with the intensifier "naffing" in Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse (1959). Usage of "naff" increased in the 1970s when television sitcom Porridge employed it as an alternative to expletives which were not considered broadcastable at the time. Princess Anne famously told a reporter, "Why don't you just naff off" at the Badminton horse trials in April 1982.

"Zhoosh" (/ˈʒʊʃ/, /ˈʒuːʃ/ or /ˈʒʊʒ/) (generally pronounced "zhuzh" with the vowel sound of "hood") meaning to smarten up, style or improve something, became commonplace more recently, having been used in the 2003 United States TV series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and What Not to Wear.

Polari glossary

Word	Definition
acdc, bibi	bisexual
ajax	nearby (shortened form of "adjacent to")
alamo!	they're attractive! (via acronym "LMO" meaning "Lick Me Out!)
aunt nell	listen!
aunt nells	ears
aunt nelly fakes	earrings
aunt nell danglers	earrings
barney	a fight
basket	the bulge of male genitalia through clothes
bat, batts, bates	shoes
bitch	effeminate or passive gay man
bijou	small/little (means "jewel" in French)
blag	pick up
blue	code word for "homosexual"
bod	body
bona	good
bona nochy	goodnight (from Italian - buona notte)
bonaroo	wonderful, excellent
bungery	pub, this comes from bung.
butch	masculine; masculine lesbian
buvare	a drink; something drinkable (from Italian - bere or old-fashioned Italian - bevere or Lingua Franca bevire)
cackle	talk/gossip
camp	effeminate (possibly from Italian campare "exaggerate, make stand out")
capello, capella, capelli, kapella	hat (from Italian, also Greek - cappello)
carsey, karsey, khazi	toilet
cartes	penis (from Italian - cazzo)
cats	trousers
charper	to search or to look (from Italian - acchiappare - to catch)
charpering omi	policeman
charver	sexual intercourse
chicken	young man
clobber	clothes
cod	bad
cottage	a public lavatory used for sexual encounters
cottaging	seeking or obtaining sexual encounters in public lavatories
cove	taxi
crimper	hairdresser
dally	sweet, kind. Possibly an alternate pronunciation of dolly.
dilly boy	a male prostitute
dinari	money (Latin denarii was the 'd' of the pre decimal penny)
dish	buttocks
dolly	pretty, nice, pleasant, from Irish Gaelic dóighiúil 'handsome' pronounced 'doil'
dona	woman (perhaps from Italian donna or Lingua Franca dona)
dorcas	term of endearment, 'one who cares'. The Dorcas Society was a ladies' church association of the nineteenth century, which made clothes for the poor.
drag	clothes, esp. women's clothes (prob from Romani — indraka — skirt; also possibly from German - tragen - v. to wear (clothes))
doss	bed
ecaf	face (backslang)
eek	face (abbreviation of ecaf)
ends	hair
esong, sedon	nose (backslang)
fantabulosa	fabulous/wonderful
feele/freely/filly	child/young (from the Italian figlio, for son)
fruit	queen
funt	pound
gelt	money (Yiddish)
handbag	money
hoofer	dancer
HP (homy polone)	effeminate gay man
jarry	food, also mangarie (from Italian mangiare or Lingua Franca mangiaria)
jubes	breasts
kaffies	trousers
khazi	toilet, also spelt carsey
lacoddy	body
lallies (lylies)	legs, sometimes also knees (as in "get down on yer lallies")
lallie tappers	feet
latty/lattie	room, house or flat
lills	hands
lilly	police (Lilly Law)
lyles	legs (prob. from "Lisle stockings")
lucoddy	body
luppers	fingers (Yiddish — lapa — paw)
mangarie	food, also jarry (from Italian mangiare or Lingua Franca mangiaria)
martinis	hands
measures	money
meese	plain, ugly (from Yiddish "meeiskeit, in turn from Hebrew מָאוּס repulsive, loathsome, despicable, abominable)
meshigener	nutty, crazy, mental (from Yiddish 'meshugge', in turn from Hebrew מְשֻׁגָּע crazy)
metzas	money (Italian -mezzi "means, wherewithal")
mince	walk (affectedly)
naff	awful, dull, hetero
nanti	not, no, none (Italian — niente)
national handbag	dole, welfare, government financial assistance
ogle	look, admire
ogles	eyes
oglefakes	glasses
omi	man (from Romance)
omi-palone	effeminate man, or homosexual
onk	nose (cf "conk")
orbs	eyes
oven	mouth (nanti pots in the oven = no teeth in the mouth)
palare pipe	telephone ("talk pipe")
palliass	back
park, parker	give
plate	feet; to fellate
palone	woman (Italian paglione - "straw mattress", [cf. old Cant "hay-bag" = woman]); also spelled "polony" in Graham Greene's 1938 novel Brighton Rock
palone-omi	lesbian
pots	teeth
remould	sex change
riah/riha	hair (backslang)
riah zhoosher	hairdresser
rough trade	a working class or blue collar sex partner or potential sex partner; a tough, thuggish or potentially violent sex partner
scarper	to run off (from Italian scappare, to escape or run away or from rhyming slang Scapa Flow, to go)
schlumph	drink
scotch	leg (scotch egg=leg)
screech	mouth, speak
sharpy	policeman (from — charpering omi)
sharpy polone	policewoman
shush	steal (from client)
shush bag	hold-all
shyker/shyckle	wig (mutation of the Yiddish sheitel)
slap	makeup
so	homosexual (e.g. "Is he 'so'?")
stimps	legs
stimpcovers	stockings, hosiery
strides	trousers
strillers	piano
switch	wig
thews	thighs
tober	road (a Shelta word, Irish bóthar)
todd (Sloanne)	alone
tootsie trade	sex between two passive homosexuals (as in: 'I don't do tootsie trade')
trade	sex, sex-partner, potential sex-partner
troll	to walk about (esp. looking for trade)
vada/varder	to see (from Italian — dialect vardare = guardare - look at) vardered — vardering
vera (lynn)	gin
vogue	cigarette (from Lingua Franca — fogus - "fire, smoke")
vogueress	female smoker
willets	breasts
yews	(from French "yeux") eyes
zhoosh	style hair, tart up, mince (Romani - "zhouzho" - clean, neat) zhoosh our riah — style our hair
zhooshy	showy

Polari in use

Omies and palones of the jury, vada well at the eek of the poor ome who stands before you, his lallies trembling.—taken from "Bona Law", a Round The Horne sketch written by Barry Took and Marty Feldman

Translation: "Men and women of the jury, look well at the face of the poor man who stands before you, his legs trembling."

So bona to vada...oh you! Your lovely eek and your lovely riah.—taken from "Piccadilly Palare", a song by Morrissey

Translation: "So good to see...oh you! Your lovely face and your lovely hair."

As feely ommes...we would zhoosh our riah, powder our eeks, climb into our bona new drag, don our batts and troll off to some bona bijou bar. In the bar we would stand around with our sisters, vada the bona cartes on the butch omme ajax who, if we fluttered our ogle riahs at him sweetly, might just troll over to offer a light for the unlit vogue clenched between our teeth.—taken from Parallel Lives, the memoirs of renowned gay journalist Peter Burton

Translation: "As young men...we would style our hair, powder our faces, climb into our great new clothes, don our shoes and wander/walk off to some great little bar. In the bar we would stand around with our gay companions, look at the great genitals on the butch man nearby who, if we fluttered our eyelashes at him sweetly, might just wander/walk over to offer a light for the unlit cigarette clenched between our teeth."

See also

• African American Vernacular English (sometimes called Ebonics)
• Bahasa Binan
• Boontling
• Caló (Chicano)
• Carny, North American fairground cant
• Gayle language
• Gay slang
• Grypsera
• IsiNgqumo
• Lavender linguistics
• Lunfardo and Vesre
• Rotwelsch
• Swardspeak
• Verlan

Bibliography

• Baker, Paul (2002) Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang. London: Continuum: ISBN 0-8264-5961-7
• Elmes, Simon & Rosen, Michael (2002) Word of Mouth. Oxford University Press: ISBN 0-19-866263-7

External links

• Chris Denning's article on Polari with bibliography
• Hugh Young's Lexicon of Polari
• The Polari Bible compiled by The Manchester Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
• Polari Mission exhibit at the University of Manchester's John Rylands Library
• Colin Richardson, The Guardian, 17 January 2005, "What brings you trolling back, then?"
• BBC - Voices, An interview with four members of a project for older gay men. (In voice clip 2, Polari is spoken)
• Polari FAQ
• Juha's Polari album
• Liverpool Museums: The secret language of polari